Robot Threat to Jobs Less Significant OECD Claim

A new report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has suggested that far fewer workers are at risk of being replaced by automaton than previously thought.
 
A forecast by Oxford University said back in 2013 that around 47% of jobs in the US and 35% in the UK were at “high risk” of being abolished as a result of automation. However, the new figures by the OECD claim that only 10% of jobs in the US and 12% in the UK would be lost. Explaining the new predictions, the OECD said that the previous forecast exaggerated the impact of automation because they grouped together jobs with the same titles too broadly. In comparison, the new analysis takes account of the differences between jobs with the same name.
 
The new research found that most jobs will be difficult to automate because they require creativity, complex reasoning, ability to carry out physical tasks in an unstructured work environment or ability to negotiate complex relationships.
 
However, study by the OECD did say that a large number of workers face their tasks significantly changing in the coming years and specifically flagged up that young people could find it harder to find work in the future as entry-level roles were at a higher risk of being automated than those requiring more experience.

Image: Robots will change the world of work without a doubt.